The present invention relates to color sample display devices for paint and other colored products. More particularly, the present invention is directed to color sample display devices such as color cards which have one or more colored swatches which are removable from a mount base.
A problem exists in the display of color such as paint colors wherein a color display card often displays a plurality of colors with a plurality of color chips or swatches on a mount base or display card. Often the viewer desires to view the color remote from the card without the distraction of the display product and/or other colors on the card. Heretofore, color or paint chips have not been removable from the mount base and remountable remote from the mount base because adhesives holding the color chips on the card would tear the mount base or chip or pulled layers of paper from the mount base as the chip was removed. Alternatively, prior to the invention herein, adhesives and mounting system which would permit chip removal would either not attractively hold the chips onto the mount base or would provide a bond so weak that there was a likelihood that the color chips would be unintentionally lost from the mount base and card.
Color display devices need to display the color on the chips or swatches attractively. This requires a high degree of control as to the placement of the adhesive on a mount base for the chips or swatches. Moreover, to provide a display device with removable chips or swatches, the device must have swatches which not only are removable, but which may be removed without rendering the card unattractive because the chips are ripped or torn or having layers of the mount base removed with the removal of the adhesively affixed chip or swatch.
An object of this invention is to provide a color display device with one or more colored swatches which are adhesively affixed to a mount base, but which may be removed and displayed remotely from the mount base by adhesively affixing the swatch to an alternate substrate.
Another object of the invention is to provide a color display device with a removable chip or chips, but also control the placement and application of adhesive and release composition layers under the chip, which layers removably hold the chips on the mount base.
This invention is directed to a color card or painted color sample display device for the illustration of color. The invention also is directed to a method for making such a color card or display device. The color card or display device of the invention has one or more painted color swatches or chips which are removable from a base and are repositionable and adhesively affixable to another substrate remote from the color card or display device. The color card with repositionable painted swatches provides swatches which may be remounted onto furniture, walls, other samples and fabrics to aid the consumer of the color to select the color on the swatch and match it with other colors and the environment for which the color is intend. In one embodiment, the color card or sample display device includes a mount base, a printed release composition on the mount base, a printed indirect pressure sensitive adhesive on the printed release composition layer, and a painted color substrate or swatch for the illustration of color. The pressure sensitive indirect adhesive, which releasably binds the painted swatch to the printed release composition on the mount base, has about 0.8 to about 3.0 oz. per inch bond strength using a 180 degree peel adhesion test after about a 24 hour dwell time and a minimum of about 250 grams of wet tack bond strength contact placement within about 30 seconds or less. Alternately, a pressure sensitive direct adhesive may be coated on the surface of the chip which faces the release composition and base to releasably bond the chip to the printed release composition. In this aspect, the direct adhesive does not have to be printed, but may be applied by a till box, a known method for applying a permanent adhesive.
The color substrate or swatch may be paper which is coated with paint, and in an important aspect, the color substrate may be a polymeric film such as polypropylene film or polyethylene terephthalate film, commonly sold under the name of Mylar. These polymeric films are less likely to rip as compared to paper and have a thickness in the range of from about 1.35 to about 4.6 mils, and preferably, from about 1.6 to about 2.6 mils. Paint is applied to these films for the illustration of color including the color of not only paints, but inks and other colored materials. The use of paint is important for the precise color matching of the swatch color with the color of the article which the swatch is to illustrate.
When the polymer films are thin, such as when the films have a thickness of from about 1.35 to about 1.6 mils, a paper tissue or thin paper reinforcing agent is adhesively affixed to the film forming a film/paper laminate. The film/paper laminate is releasably affixed to the release composition with the direct or indirect pressure sensitive adhesive.
In another aspect, the color card or sample display device includes a mount base, a printed permanent adhesive layer printed on the mount base, a release liner layer permanently and adhesively affixed to the permanent adhesive layer, a release composition layer on the surface of the release liner layer opposite to the surface of the release liner layer which is affixed to the permanent adhesive, an indirect adhesive layer on the release composition layer, a paint coated color substrate or swatch which is releasably and adhesively bonded onto the indirect adhesive layer. Alternately, a direct adhesive may be applied to the surface of the paint coated color substrate which faces and is releasably affixed to the release composition. In this aspect of the invention, paper or a polymeric film is releasably and adhesively affixed with an indirect or direct adhesive onto the surface of the release liner having the release composition. The surface of the release liner facing the paper or film chip surface is coated with a release composition layer so that the paper or film serves as a paint chip which may be removed from the release liner. The surface of the release liner, which is opposite the surface of the release liner having the release composition, is permanently and adhesively affixed to the mount base with a permanent adhesive printed on the mount base. In this aspect of the invention, paper or film is painted with the sample color and is bonded to the surface of the release liner which is coated with the release composition. The opposite surface of the release liner is bonded onto the mount base with the permanent adhesive. The paper or film substrate which is painted and which forms the painted chip then may be readily removed from the mount base for illustration of the paint color remote from the card and mount base. In this aspect, after the painted chip is removed from the mount base, the release liner remains permanently adhesively affixed to the mount base with the permanent adhesive.
The method of the invention includes printing a mount base with a release composition to provide a printed release composition layer, drying and/or curing with heat or light (such as U.V. light) the release composition layer, printing a pressure sensitive indirect adhesive on the release composition layer to provide a pressure sensitive indirect adhesive layer, mounting a display swatch to the printed pressure sensitive indirect adhesive layer. The release composition and adhesive layers may be printed onto the mount base by lithographic printing, Gravure printing, flexographic printing and silk screen printing. In an important aspect, the release composition layer and the pressure sensitive indirect adhesive are printed onto their respective base layers by a lithographic printing process. The release composition is lithographically printed onto the mount base and then the pressure sensitive indirect adhesive is lithographically printed on the dried release composition layer. The color swatches may be mounted onto the printed adhesive on the mount base using a till box, as is known in the art, or a high speed mounting machine as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,521 to Lerner. Indeed, printing the indirect adhesive onto the release composition is highly adaptable with such a high speed machine.
In another aspect the method of the invention includes printing a mount base with a permanent adhesive, applying a release composition to the surface of a release liner, applying an indirect adhesive onto the surface of the release composition or a direct adhesive to the chip substrate and laminating a paint coated film or paper substrate onto the surface of the release liner with the indirect or direct adhesive to provide a release liner/painted substrate laminate, and then mounting the release liner/painted substrate laminate to the permanent adhesive which is printed onto the surface of the mount base.
Definitions
xe2x80x9cIndirect adhesivexe2x80x9d means a pressure sensitive adhesive which releasably binds an object to a substrate base. An indirect adhesive is applied to a base to which the object is mounted and when the object is removed from the base, the indirect adhesive will transfer to or move to the object and the object will retain adhesive which will permit the object to be adhesively mounted to another base. Further, the indirect adhesive should be capable of being printed. Suitable indirect adhesives include but are not limited to acrylic emulsion polymers which are commercially available as Aroset 2538 and 2539 from Ashland Chemical Company, and microsphere acrylic polymers which are commercially available as 271 Series Adhesive Gel-Tac Acrylic Polymers from Advanced Polymers International.
xe2x80x9cDirect adhesivexe2x80x9d means an adhesive which removably affixes an object onto a base or substrate on a base, but does not transfer to the object being removed from the substrate. When it is used in the invention, the direct adhesive is applied directly to the chip substrate which then is bonded to the release composition. The direct adhesive may be applied by roll coating or any known method. A suitable direct adhesive includes but is not limited to an acrylic polymer microspheres commercially available as Gel-Tac 101 Series and Gel-Tac 102 series from Advanced Polymers International.
A xe2x80x9creleasable adhesivexe2x80x9d is an indirect or direct adhesive which releasably bonds an object to a substrate.
xe2x80x9cPermanent adhesivexe2x80x9d means an adhesive which does not releasably affix an object to a substrate, but rather permanently affixes the object to the substrate. Suitable permanent adhesives include a copolymer of polyvinyl acetate commercially available as Crodafix 57-066 from Croda Adhesives, Inc., Itasca, Ill., and Resyn (R) 33-9245, available from National Starch Company. The permanent adhesive should be printable.
xe2x80x9cRelease compositionxe2x80x9d means a composition which is coated onto a release liner or on an object to be adhesively affixed to the indirect or direct adhesive to facilitate the removal of the object which is adhesively affixed to a base with the indirect or direct adhesive. Suitable release compositions include but are not limited to a wax and varnish blend which is suitable to release an object affixed with Aroset adhesives; a free radical UV silicone release composition commercially available from Croda Adhesives, Inc., as Croda 30-19-3; a cationic UV silicone release composition commercially available from Croda Adhesives as Croda 30-24-1; a two component thermoset release composition commercially available as Croda 24-26-2 parts 1 and 2; and conventional commercially available silicone release compositions. The Croda and conventional silicone release compositions are suitable for use with the Aroset indirect adhesive and the 271 indirect adhesives from Advanced Polymers International.
xe2x80x9cRelease linerxe2x80x9d means a paper or polymeric film which may be coated with a release composition to facilitate the removal of an object from the release liner and movement of an indirect adhesive to the object or retention of a direct adhesive on an object, such that the object may be removably adhesively affixed to a substrate other than the release liner.